Improvement in railway cattle-gates



UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE9 WILLIAM A. PUGH AND JAMES F. BIGGER, OF RUSHVILLE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY CATTLE-GATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,178, dated September 19, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. PUGII and JAMEs F. BIGGER, of Bushville, in the county of Itush and State of Indiana, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Stock-Guards 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing making a part of this specili cation7 and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon..

Figure l of the drawing is a representation of a side elevation and section of this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is an end view of the same. y

This invention has relation to stock or cattleguards for railroads and for other purposes; and

consists in the construction and Vnovel arrange-V ment of devices7 hereinafter described, designed to operate in such a manner as to raise obstacles to the progress along the track of cattle cranimals passing from side to side thereof.

The contrivance in which this invention is embodied is arranged on the line of the railroad track, and should be about fourteen feet in length and from twelve to eighteen niches Wider than the track, so that the transverse fence, which should extend to the sides of the contrivance, will avoid collision with the passing cars.

The main portions of this invention are the platforms A, guards B, and side arms C, with platform and guard-stops D.

The whole contrivance is designed to be of cast or wrought-iron, as the most suitable material,

although Wood will answer the purposes of the invention, and of about the following dimensions, viz. platforms, each four feet long, guards, each three feet long-making the entire length of the machine fourteen feet. It has a rectangular form 'and is supported on the cross-ties of the track7 which are laid in accordance with the peculiarities of the invention. The platform should be about from one-half to three-fourths of an inch thick, luted transversely, and perforated. The perforations answer two purposes-to lighten the platforms and let water through them. The trarisverse fluting forms afoothold for the animal standing on the platform when it tilts, so that it can retreat. A groove, a, is left near the outer end of each platform, underneath, to form a bed for the ties supporting them. The inner end of the platform overlaps the guard to an extent to elevate the inner end of the latter to an almost perpendicular position when `the platform is tilted. For this purpose, and to make the upper surfaces even, the platform is cut out underneath and the guard above, so as to form shoulders and thus present no unevenness. The guard7 at its base or point next to the platform, should be solid for about the distance of one foot from the shoulder, and from thence to its inner end cast in the form of palings. rIhe side pieces C reach from tie to tie, to which their ends are secured, and to them are pivoted the platforms and guards in such a manner that any weight bearing on` the inner half of the platform will tilt it and cause it to tilt the guard. When the weight is removed the platform and guards rise and assume their iirst positions. D represents stops projecting from the inner faces of the pieces C. They are arranged in such a way as to receive the ends of the ltilted guards and platforms when they arev depressed far enough, and to prevent them from tilting too much.

When any animal steps on the platform it immediately falls and raises the guard high enough to prevent the animal from passing it and going along the track in that direction.

I claim as my invention- The combination and arrangement of the platforms A operating by sliding contact, guardsB, Y

side pieces G, and oblique stops D, constituting an automatically rising-and-falling cattleguard 'for railroads and other purposes, and operating substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the above we have hereunto subscribed our names in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. PUGH. i. JAMES F. BIGGER. Witnesses:

` ABRAHAM S. BOWEN, EDWARD D. BEHER. 

